Apartment project underway near proposed bullet train site

One of the area’s familiar developers is bringing an affordable high-end renting experience to Timbergrove, where it could be next door to a high-speed rail station.

Per Alliance Residential Development director Luke Phillippi, work is underway on a 432-unit rental apartment complex – coined Broadstone Timbergrove – near Minimax Drive and Loop 610, just south of W. 18th Street. Alliance closed on the 8-acre site, which is in close proximity to Timbergrove and the Heights, this past October.

Just across the way sits the old Northwest Mall site, which is the proposed Houston station for the high-speed rail between Houston and Dallas.

Broadstone Minimax has been under construction for about two-and-a-half months, and Alliance’s hope is to deliver the first units — which will average 776 square feet — by the first quarter of 2020.

“We always hope to bring people a good place to stay at a good value. We’re really excited about this project,” Phillippi said. “We build high-end apartments, and while this will certainly have great amenities, what’s unique is that it’s going to be a bit more affordable relative to other spots while opening it up to folks who otherwise might not be able to live there.”

Despite its proximity to the proposed bullet train site, Phillippi insisted such a prognosis had little impact on Alliance’s choosing of the location. He said Alliance previously worked on the site for many years but had not already developed it because of the recession in 2008.

In the end, all the pieces fell into place in late 2018.

“As a company, we just started looking around town, and inside the 610 Loop is a lot of expensive apartments, but not a lot of opportunities to build a place that’s a lower-cost alternative – and that’s because there’s not much land available,” he said. “This is a unique circumstance that comes about in a great location, when we can buy enough land to build a surface-park apartment, which substantially lowers the cost and enables us to be able to charge lower rents.”

Amenities will consist of two large scale courtyards with a resort style pool, outdoor kitchen, gaming lawn and dog park. Interior amenities will consist of resident lounge areas, fitness center with cardio and virtual training, a business center and conference spaces. Phillippi said Alliance also likes to bring the history of sites into the design process whenever possible – a distinct possibility for Broadstone Timbergrove, given the site’s location.

“We’ve found historic items on properties while excavating the site that we’ll bring into and showcase in the project,” he said. “We’re not through that part of the design, but we’d love to do that, because Timbergrove and the Heights are truly historic areas that have been around a long time.”